Tips for the Bride | Ordering your wedding dress

May 13, 2011

I think “Tips for the Bride” might be a new feature (we’ll see, I don’t have any plan to do it weekly but who knows). I work a few days a week, part time at Chantilly Place. I’ve been doing it for a little over a month and a half. I use to work retail when I was in college and right out of college. I was looking for something part time and working at a bridal salon seemed like a perfect fit. Colleen at Chantilly Place was looking for someone to help out a few days a week (prom season makes the bridal salon extra busy right now).

What I have realized over the last couple months of working at Chantilly Place is not everyone knows how far in advance you should order your bridal gown (as well as bridesmaid dresses & mother of the bride/groom). The idea for doing this post came from that.

Bridal Gown: 4-6 months before your wedding date. Occasionally we can get them faster but you might be limited on designers if its shorter then 4 months. Start looking far enough is advance so you can make sure you don’t have to rush. Some brides select a gown on their first trip to the store others need more time. You don’t want to have to rush so start looking around 8 months and you’ll have plenty of time to browse. We can definitely get gowns in on a shorter time-line then 4 months so don’t think you can’t come in and get a dress if your wedding isn’t that far away. In an ideal situation plan for 4-6 months to order your dress & have it sent to us in time for alterations to be completed.

Bridesmaids: 12 weeks (3 months) When you are selecting a dress for a large number of maids make sure you have plenty of time to make the decision. If you want to have time for all of your bridesmaids to try dresses on and have input on the final choice you’ll need take that into consideration too. You can often do a rush order on dresses, but that is going to cost more. Just like with bridal gowns we can often get dresses in a shorter time frame, but you might be more limited on what you can get. Some companies offer a limited number of dresses at a quicker shipping & each company has a different shipping time. So don’t be afraid to come in even if the wedding is less then 12 weeks away, just realize you might be limited.

Mother of the Bride/Groom: 12 weeks (3 months) I see lot’s of MOB & MOG come in and have no idea when they should start looking. If you are looking for something on the more casual side I am sure you could find something at a department store at the mall. If you are looking for something a little dressier and you want to have the options of a variety of sizes & colors come to Chantilly Place. We have a variety of dresses for all types of Mom’s, I think most think of MOB/MOG dresses have to look matronly, that isn’t the case at all. We have a large variety of styles from modern & dare I say a little sexy to more traditional. The other perk of coming to a bridal salon to purchase your dress is we can help you customize the dress if it isn’t exactly what you are looking for.

Custom: If you don’t find exactly what you are looking for Chantilly Place also does custom gowns. We have a variety of sample customs in the store to give you an idea of styles. You can have us remake one of the sample custom gowns or it can be changed and tweaked so it’s even more custom. When you order a custom gown the dress is made to your measurements so you don’t need any additional alterations. Time frame varies on custom dresses. Get in touch with Colleen as soon as you think you want to have a custom gown made for you.

2 thoughts on “Tips for the Bride | Ordering your wedding dress”

Amanda, Gorgeous dresses, love this post! Funny thing I am working on a wedding dress post myself. I was wondering if I could use some of your images for my post. Specifically, I am super swooning over the line of hanging dresses…thoughts?
Mellissa